Building a Legacy that Last

Marilyn and I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. I am grateful to Marilyn and the Lord for having made it to this milestone. To God be all the glory! I know we are in a select group that knows this privilege of longevity in marriage. I count each day I have with Marilyn and my family as a gift.

When Marilyn and I began our journey through life together, we had no idea what lay ahead. It’s now been 50 years, and I cannot believe that it has passed so quickly. Our journey together started in California, where we were born, along with our first child, Carin. We soon learned that we were unprepared for marriage, but we kept at it with so much to learn. Giving up was never an option! We found we could make progress by our shared values and shared commitment. Parenting, however, came easy for us. We shared a love for our children, and they brought so much joy to our lives!

In 1976 we moved to Missouri to become youth pastors, and our second child was born, Eric. A year later, we were headed to Argentina as missionaries. During our year of itineration, we traveled with our two children everywhere, raising support. We had fun that year, and it was exciting to see God opening the doors of ministry for us in Argentina.

Our years in Argentina and Puerto Rico were challenging but rewarding, and it was there during those years that our third child was born, Ryan. We determined that we wanted our kids never to have a victim mentality. We taught them that they were gaining so much by learning two languages and two cultures.

Now we have spent 21 years as pastors of People’s Church in Arnold, Missouri. No matter where we have served, we have had to learn to depend on God to face the challenges and problems, and God has been faithful to us during these years.

On July 25, our three children paid tribute to us in an extraordinary service at People’s Church, where they each shared special words with the congregation about their parents. Later, that day three of our granddaughters sang the song “Happiness is the Lord,” and our grandson played the piano. That brought back memories because Marilyn’s 12-year-old sister, Debbie, had sung that song at our wedding.

I can tell you with no reservations that my most significant accomplishment in these fifty years has been my marriage and my family. Today, we are together because of our commitment to each other, our love of God, and our love of family.

When you come to the end of your life, you won’t worry that you didn’t mow your lawn enough or missed the sales at the department store, but you will regret not spending more time together with your family and enjoying that time.